


Young Life

by Mickey_Todoroki



Category: youtube - Fandom
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Bullying, Child Abuse, Complete, F/M, Fluff, LGBTQ, M/M, Teenage characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:14:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 16,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23067586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mickey_Todoroki/pseuds/Mickey_Todoroki
Summary: Nate moves to a new school, but it doesn’t go as planned. Thankfully he meets some new friends and finds something to look forward to each day.Mark’s life is pretty ordinary until an old friend moves to town and both their lives change. Relationships bloom and dilemas follow suit.Also on Wattpad: @Mickey_Todoroki
Relationships: Ethan Nestor/Tyler Scheid, Markiplier/Jacksepticeye, Marzia Bisognin/Felix Kjellberg, NatePat - Relationship, NateWantsToBattle/MatPat, Septiplier, Tythan - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	1. First Day

I slam my hand down on my alarm clock and groan. After a minute, I throw the covers off and sit up. I throw my legs off the side of the bed and yawn as I stand up. I grab my glasses and put them on, then grab my phone and check the time. 

_4:20_. Great. I sigh and get dressed in a black t-shirt, a black, sleeveless vest, black jeans, my black gauges, and black converse. I walk downstairs and into the kitchen. I grab a granola bar and sit down at the bar. I get my phone and start scrolling through Instagram.

Oh, I realize I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Nathan Smith or Nate, and I’m 16 years old. Today is my first day at my new high school. I guess you could say I´m the outcast emo kid. It doesn’t help that I’m gay. Oh well. As of right now, my parents are asleep upstairs. They usually don’t wake up until 7 or 8 and my car, currently sitting in the driveway along with my parents, was a gift from a friend of mine from my old school before he moved away. For about a year, we were dating. Anyway, he and my parents pooled their money together to buy me an old fixer-upper, but it was still nice. I spent the whole summer with him fixing it up.

I snap out of my trance as I notice the time. I stand up, stuff my phone in my back pocket, and throw my trash away. I grab my keys and run up to my room, grabbing my bag, then sprint out the door and to my car in the driveway. I hop in and throw my bag in the passenger seat, putting my keys in the ignition, and starting the car. I pull out of the driveway and make my way to school.

><><Time Skip><><

I pull into the school parking lot and turn off the car. I grab my bag and get out of the car. I run into the school and immediately head to the office. I stand in front of the front desk before she realizes I’m here.

“How may I help you?”

“Ummm, my name is Nate and I’m new here, I need my papers, please.”

She smiles and grabs some papers. “Here you go. This is your locker, combination, and schedule. Now, you should know where all the classes are.” I nod. “Well, have a good first day.”

I smile. “Will do.” I exit the office and am immediately shoved to the ground, hitting my head on the wall. I look up with slightly blurry eyes to see three guys wearing letterman jackets.

“Gay emo!”

I sigh. Great. New school and already getting pushed around. They knock me over and start kicking me.

They only stop when we all hear someone yell, “HEY, leave him alone!”

By that time, my vision is clear and I see a guy who seems _very_ familiar running towards me. The guys look at him.

“And why should we do that?”

“Because if I don’t, I’ll kick your ass and get you kicked off the football team.”

The guys look at each other, then run away.

I look down and shake my head. I see a hand enter my line of vision and I look up and see the guy who helped me. I take his hand and he pulls me up. 

“Thank you.” Now that I see his face, my eyes light up. “Mark?”


	2. New Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark and Nate catch up and Mark introduces Nate to his friends.

“Nate?” We wrap our arms around each other in a big hug. When we pull apart, I laugh in disbelief. I notice that his usually pitch-black hair is dyed a bright, blood red. Looks cool. He’s also wearing a letterman jacket.

“I can’t believe it. After about 3 years, we find each other again. God, I missed you, man.” We hug again.

“I missed you, too, Nate. Hey, what classes do you have?” I hand him my schedule and as he looks it over, a wide smile makes its way on his face. “We’ve got all the same classes together.”

“Yes!” Mark grabs my hand and drags me down the hall. I read the sign in front of the door and it says, _‘Mr. Jefferson, PreCalculus.’_ Marks throws open the door and walks into the class. Only five other people are in the room and Mark drags me over there.

“Guys, this is Nate. Nate,” he points to a guy with bright green hair and pale white skin, but noticeably bright blue eyes, “this is my boyfriend, Jack.” 

“Tahp o' de mahrnin!” Ok, he’s Irish.

Next, Mark points to a guy with bright blue hair and a bad case of acne holding the hand of the guy next to him.

“This is Ethan and his boyfriend, Tyler.” 

“Hello.” I smile.

He points to a guy with bleach blonde hair.

“This is Felix.” He just nods.

Then he points to a small guy with brown hair and eyes. He looks kinda cute.

“And this is MatPat.” He smiles and holds out his hand, which I politely shake. 

“Hi, Mark has told us so much about you.”

My eyes widen as a smirk crosses my face. “Really, because Mark hasn’t said a word about you guys. Actually, he hasn’t talked to me in three years.”

Everyone looks at Mark with a dumbfounded expression.

“Ok, in my defense, this place has a really bad connection and I got a new phone and lost your number.”

I just stare at him. “Your mom has my number, you idiot.”

Now he just looks confused. “She does?”

I just give an exasperated sigh and look back at the group.

“Anyway,” MatPat continues, “Tyler and I are Gay, Ethan and Mark are Bi, Jack is Pan, and Felix is straight, and we call ourselves the Gay Squad.”

My eyes widen. “And you don’t get bullied?”

He shakes his head. “Only on occasion, but Mark, being captain of the football team and quarterback, has pretty much scared them all away.”

I look down and sit in one of the seats beside them.

“What’s wrong?” I hear Ethan ask.

“Today’s his first day and he was already bullied.”

I set my head in my hands and sigh, running my fingers through my hair. I look up and smile. “It’s ok, though. I made some friends and I won’t let some idiotic bullies ruin that for me.”

They all smile. “That’s the spirit.”

Just then, the bell rings and students come piling in along with the teacher while MatPat and Mark take a seat on either side of me.

The teacher stands in front of the class. “Kids, today we have a new student. He doesn’t have to, but he can come up here if he chooses.”

I wait a couple of seconds, then decide to get up. I walk over and stand beside the teacher.

“Would you mind stating your name and a couple of things about yourself?”

I nod. “Umm, my name is Nate and I play guitar and piano and a bunch of other instruments. I love music and am a pretty big video game nerd. I think that is all you would care to know.” I see a girl raise her hand and just from the way she dresses, I can tell she’s one of the popular girls. Then I notice that’s she’s my ex from my old school before I realized I was gay. Fuck, I know what she’s going to ask.

“Yes, Ms. Want?” I see Mark’s eyes widen and he looks at me. I tell him to calm down.

“This is a question for Nate. What’s your sexuality?”

Yup, there it is. I sigh. “I’m gay, is that alright with you, _Morgan_?” I ask, my voice practically dripping with venom. Her eyes widen in fear and she puts her hands up in surrender. I smile and sit down in my seat. This was going to be a great day.


	3. Not So Much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark blames himself for Nate getting bullied and they officially make Nate part of the group.

I feel bad for Nate. It’s his first day of school and he’s already been pushed around at _least_ six times. I wish he didn’t have to go through this. 

Nate and I walk to the lunchroom and sit down with the rest of the squad. Everyone looks up and smiles.

“Hey, Nate. How’s your day been?”

“Umm, shit.” He sighs and I feel bad.

I look down and slightly raise my hand. “That may be my fault.”

They all look at me. “How?”

“I used to talk about you to these guys,” he gestures to the group, “and I told them all about you. One of the football players must’ve overheard because, in the locker room, Tyler and I have heard them making fun of you. They never knew what you looked like, but they must’ve connected the dots. I’m sorry.” By this point, I’m nearly breaking down in tears.

I feel arms wrap around me, engulfing me in a hug. “It’s not your fault. It’s no one's fault except theirs. _They’re_ the ones bullying me. Not you.”

I smile and wipe my tears as he lets me go. “I know, I just can’t help it.” I rest my elbows on the table and my head in my hands. I feel someone grab my hand. I look up and see Jack holding my hand across my table. I smile, giving his hand a squeeze. Jack lets go as our table is called and we go get our lunches. We come back and I have an idea.

“Hey Nate, you know how we call ourselves the gay squad, even though only three of us are gay?”

He smiles and chuckles. “Yeah, how could I forget.”

“Well, we all are LGBTQ+ supporters and that's the easiest name for ourselves. But we all have a shirt for ourselves.”

“Yeah, it says ‘GAY SQUAD’ on the chest and pride written all around the hem. Each of our shirts is usually the color we represent,” Mat added.

I could see the look Nate gave Mat and vice versa. I look at Jack and I know we’ve got a mischievous twinkle in our eyes. I look back at Nate.

“I’m obviously red,” I gesture to my hair.

“We’re orange.” Mat gestures to both himself and Tyler.

“My hairs closest to blonde, so I’m yellow.” Felix also gestures to his hair as well.

“Green!” Jack floofs his hair under his beanie. Damn, he’s cute.

“I’m blue,” and Ethan starts singing the song until Tyler tickles him into submission.

“I think my hair tells you my color,” Thomas gestures to his bright purple hair, which, by the way, looks amazing on him.

“Well, I’ve no idea what color I’d be. Probably purple.”

“Well, I was thinking, maybe black.” Nate smiles at Mat.

“I’d like that.”

The bell rings and we all get up, dumping our trash. Nate and Thomas follow me to AP Language Arts.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate finally gets to relax after a tough day.

We all walk out of school and towards our cars. Everyone's got pretty nice ones. At least, compared to mine. I think Mark sees my car because his jaw drops.

“You still have Bessie?!” We both break down laughing, tears springing to our eyes. After a minute or two, we both calm down and look at the others. They all look confused.

“Care to explain?” Thomas asks.

“Mark and my parents pooled their money together to buy this car for my what, 14th birthday?” I ask.

“15th,” He corrects. I nod. 

“Wait, your boyfriend, at the time, and your parents bought you a car for your birthday?” Mat asks.

I nod and smile as I sling my arm around his shoulders. “He’s the best friend you could have.” Then I turn to Jack. “And the best boyfriend.” I wink at him and Mark blushes. Tyler pulls out his phone and looks up.

“Hey, guys, we should probably go.” We all look around and only see a couple of cars left in the parking lot. We nod and give each other hugs and they give me their numbers. We then all get in our cars and drive off.

><><Time Skip><><

I pull into my driveway and see everyone getting out of their cars in the driveways of the houses around me.

“Huh.” Silence, then we all start laughing. We all walk into our houses and when I close the door, I go and sit on the couch, throwing my bag on the floor by my feet. I notice there’s a piece of paper on the kitchen counter, but I’m too lazy to care. I groan as I lean back against the couch. This is the first time I’ve been alone all day, and It’s the first time I realize how much pain I’m really in. I lift up my shirt and see a huge black and purple bruise covering up half of my stomach. I also notice a little of the skin in the center of the bruise is broken. I just take off my shirt and move so I’m fully laying on the couch.

“I’m just gonna lay here for a bit,” I mutter to myself. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

><><Time Skip><><

I wake up to the sound of knocking. I groan and slightly whimper as I sit up. I stand up and walk to the door, every step making me wince. I open the door and see Mark standing there. He was wearing a black shirt, a red and black flannel, and jeans. He was also wearing his glasses. 

“Ouch, that looks painful.”

I knit my eyebrows together in confusion, then I realize what he’s talking about. I look down and see the bruise taking up most of the top half of my stomach and my side. I sigh. “What’re you doing here?” I manage to say through the pain.

“Well, I forgot how badly you beat up today, so I wanted to check up on you. Where are your parents?”

I walk to the note I saw earlier and read it. My parents wrote it saying they were going on a business trip. “Ummm, in Florida until Saturday.”

Mark sighs. “And It’s Monday. Well, I would let you stay with me, but there’s no room. Jack’s living with us, but I’m sure one of the other guys wouldn’t mind taking you in for the week. But for now, I’m gonna help you with your bruise. Lay down on the couch.”

I slowly make my way to the living room and lay down on the couch. My eyes start to droop, and soon I fall back asleep.


	5. Taking Care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark decides to help Nate with his injuries but decides he needs help.

I head to their guest bathroom where I know Nate’s family has always kept the first aid kit. I grab it and head to the living room to find Nate asleep once more on the couch. I smile and walk to the kitchen, grabbing a small ice pack from the freezer. I walk back to the living room and kneel down on the floor beside Nate and the couch. I set the first aid kit on the coffee table and open it up. 

Inside there’s two ace bandage wraps, antiseptic wipes, a bunch of bandaids, a couple of gauze pads, some medicine, and tweezers. I grab a couple of wraps and an antiseptic wipe and start cleaning his bruise. I set the ice pack on the bruise and help the sleeping Nate sit up and I sit behind him, leaning his head on my chest. I gently and slowly wrap the wrap around his stomach while holding the ice pack to his stomach. I secure the wrap and get up, gently laying Nate back down. I take my phone out of my back jean pocket and call Mat.

_ “Hey Mark, what’s up?” _

“Hey Mat, ummm, I’ve got a question for you. Do you think you could watch Nate for the weekend?” I could almost  _ hear _ his confusion.

“Sure, but why?”

“Ummm, Nate’s parents are on a business trip and won’t be back until Saturday. He’s also pretty beat up from this morning.”

_ “Ok, yeah, I can watch him. Bring him over. I’ll have the door open.” _

“Alright, we’ll be right over.” I hang up and stuff my phone back in my jeans. I go to the front door and open it wide. I walk back over to the couch and pick up Nate’s backpack off the floor, putting it on my back. I then kneel down and gently pick up Nate off the couch and hold him close to my chest. I walk outside and walk to Mat’s, which is the house to the left of Nate’s. I see the front door open, so I walk in and set Nate down on the couch. Mat walks over, a blanket in hand, and stares at Nate. the wrap left a bit of the bruise showing, and that in itself was bad. He shakes his head, probably knocking him out of a trance, and gently lays the blanket on Nate.

“This was all from this morning?” I nod. “My God.” We both look at Nate as he groans while rolling on his side. MatPat kneels down beside the couch and pulls the blanket up to Nate’s chin. Mat gets up quickly and runs to the kitchen, then returns with an ice pack in hand. He gently lifts Nate’s head and lays the ice pack on the pillow, then lays Nate’s head back down.

“Why did you ask me to watch Nate?”

“His parents are on a business trip in Florida until Saturday. I asked you because I don’t have any room and I know Ethan is already living with Tyler and I had a feeling Nate would be more comfortable living with you than Thomas or Felix.”

“Why?” I smile and innocently look up at the ceiling.

“Ohh, no reason, just that Nate might have a big crush on you.” I look back at Mat and see him blushing. We both look at Nate as he starts whimpering. He sits up fast, panting, sweat coating his forehead. He looks around and his eyes widen.

“Where-am I?”

“You’re at my house.” His breathing calms and he goes to stand up but collapses to the ground. We rush over to him and help him sit on the couch. When I look down, I notice there’s a little purple around his ankle where his sweatpants rolled up. I roll his pant leg up to his knee as he leans back on the couch. The entirety of his shin is covered in bruises and scars. Mat rolls up his other pant leg and it looks the exact same. We look at his chest and arms and for the first time, we both see scars scattered all over. We look at each other and come to the same conclusion.

_ Nate’s being abused. _


	6. Conference Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group confronts Nate about the abuse.

I slowly open my eyes and see Thomas, Mark, Mat, Jack, Ethan, Felix, and Tyler all encircling the couch I’m laying on.

“What’s going on?” I groggily ask as I sit up to face them.

“What happened to you?” I’m confused.  _ Do they know about _ -

“Nate, we know you either were or are being abused.” MatPat kneels down next to me and grabs my hands. “Please, tell me, tell  _ us _ who did this to you.” I sigh as tears start forming in the corners of my eyes.

“M-my parents. My parents did this to me.” Tears form in Ethan, Mark, Thomas, and MatPat's eyes. Tyler and Felix’s eyes widen and Jack looks downcast.

“I know what dat’s like,” Jack mutters. We all turn to Jack, Mark’s eyes widening in confusion and sorrow

“W-what?” He sighs and lifts up his shirt to the top of his chest. His 6-pack abs were marred by scars. Quite a few of them. Almost all faint; a couple pretty visible. Mark walks up to him and gently runs his hands along some of the scars. Mark looks up at him with tear-filled eyes as Jack drops his shirt. 

“Is this why you moved here and became a transfer student?” Jack nods as tears come to his eyes. My gods, we learned so much today. Not only was I abused, but so was Jack.

“It was your dad, right?” I ask. Jack looks up and nods. “Lucky.” People look at me.

“How is he lucky? You were both abused by your parents. I would hate it if my parents were to even  _ hate  _ me,” Thomas says. I scoff.

“Yes, we were both abused, but he was only abused by his dad. Whereas  _ I _ was abused by both my parents. Jack had his mom to protect him on nights his dad got drunk and started beating him. At least Jack had someone to protect him. I had no one. I still don’t.” I wipe away stray tears from my eyes. I hate talking about my feelings and I’m so used to hiding the feelings that I  _ do _ want to share because nobody cared. MatPat sits on the couch next to me and gives me a hug.

“How long have you been abused?”

“I was abused frahm when I was 15 oehntil my 16th birthday, so maybe ahnly one year.” Everyone looks to me.

“They started abusing me a couple of days after my 14th birthday, and they’re still doing it, so they’ve been abusing me for three years.” Mark gasps.

“We were dating before that. Why didn’t you ever tell me.” I shrug.

“I didn’t want to bother you. I didn’t want you to have to go through this shit.” I stand up to leave but collapse. Thankfully, Mat is there to catch me. I rest my head on his shoulder as he basically drags me back to the couch. We sit down and Mark kneels down in front of us.

“Nate, we’re gonna get you outta there.” I just look at him. They can try, but It’s not gonna work.

“If It’s the last thing we do.”


	7. Heartbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just as Nate starts to get comfortable, a setback occurs.

I can’t believe he never told me, even  _ while _ we were dating. I wish he’d told me. I could’ve  _ done _ something. I could’ve gotten him outta there. I look over to the couch and sigh at the sight of Nate’s bruised and scarred chest and arms. I smile; Mat is blushing while comfortably rubbing Nate’s arms because Nate is laying his head on his shoulder. I look back over to Jack and see him standing in the corner of the room, his arms crossed over his chest and looking down at the floor.

I walk over to him and gently set my hand on his cheek, causing him to look up. After a second, Jack absorbs me in a hug. I feel tears soak my shirt. I wrap my arms around him and let him cry. I run my fingers through his lime-green hair to calm him down.

Minutes later, once he’s calm, I let go of him as he backs up.

“I’m sahrry. I dedn't mean to break down ahn you and soak yooehr shirt,” He manages to say through his hiccups.

“It’s fine, as long as you know that I am, and always will be here for you. I care about you, ok? I won’t judge you about anything. I’ll never push you away.” Jack sniffs and nods, tears springing to the corner of his eyes once more. I give him a small kiss.

“I’m gonna see how Nate is, all right? I’ll be right back.” He nods and wipes away his tears. It’s heartbreaking to see him like this. A quiet shell of who he usually is; a loud, funny, and caring Irishman. Right now, he’s just a quiet, reserved, and broken man. I give him one last kiss, then walk over to the couch. I kneel down and Nate turns his head to look at me.

“How are you?”

“I-I’m fine. Really.” He takes a deep breath, and I can almost  _ hear _ him holding back a sob. I look at Mat, and we share a look. 

_ What is Nate still hiding? _ The phone rings. I sigh and ruffle up his hair, then go to the kitchen to answer it.

_ “Hi, is this Mary Fischbach?” _ My eyes widen and I stiffen. I motion over Ethan, Tyler, Thomas, and Felix. 

“No, this is her son, Mark.” I move the receiver end away from my mouth and whisper to the guys. “It’s Nate’s mom.” Their eyes widen as well and they all look at Nate.

_ “Oh, hi Mark. I haven’t seen you in a while. I was just wondering if Nate is there. He’s not answering his phone.”  _ I whisper to Thomas to ask Nate if he wants to talk. 

“Uh.” I look to Nate and he nods. “Yeah, he’s here. Give me a second.” MatPat helps him stand and helps him walk over. I hand him the phone and he leans against the wall as we all walk back to the living room. Mat, Thomas, Jack, and I sit on the couch, Felix sits in the armchair, and Tyler and Ethan sit on the floor. I lean over and place my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands, my fingers running through my hair.  _ God, I hope we get him away from his family. _

We all look up as we hear a loud thump. Nate’s sitting on the floor, phone hanging by the cord and swinging, sometimes hitting the wall. Nate was breathing heavily and fast. Mat gets up and runs to Nate and sits down beside him, leaning Nate’s head against his chest.

“Hey, hey, Nate, It’s ok. There’s nothing to be scared of. Just breathe with me, come on. I’m right here.” Slowly but surely, Nate’s breathing eventually slowed down and his panic attack completely disappeared. Everyone gets off the couch and I run over to the kitchen. I pick up Nate and lay him on the couch. I take a step back as Mat runs up and kneels down beside the couch, running his fingers through Nate’s hair. I look to the others, and I know we’re all asking the same question…

_ “What the hell did Nate’s mom say to him?” _


	8. How Did You Do It?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They talk about what just happened.

I slowly wake up but am too tired to open my eyes. I can feel someone running their fingers through my hair. It feels so nice that I instinctively lean into the touch. I open my eyes and see Mat sitting beside me on the floor, a  _ very _ evident blush dusting his cheeks. I smirk at him and his blush gets even darker as he smiles back. I look around and see everyone scattered around the living room. Tyler, Ethan, Thomas, and Felix were having a conversation in the corner of the room while Mark and Jack were sitting on the floor, Mark leaning against the back of the armchair looking down with Jack holding his hand. 

Mark looks up and his eyes widen in relief. I’m happy he still cares about me, even after all these years. 

“What happened?” I ask. Mark looks at Mat and smirks.

“You had one hell of a panic attack. As soon as you collapsed, Mat immediately ran over there and calmed you down in about five minutes.” I look to Mat again and he smiles sheepishly. I motion for him to lean down. When his head is only a couple inches away from my face. I lean up and give his cheek a kiss.

“Thank you. Really. You’re the only one who has been able to calm me down that fast.” His eyes widen.

“Really?” 

“Yeah.” We all look over to Mark as he answers for me. “He was diagnosed with anxiety a year before we started dating. He would have panic attacks that would last until he passed out, which was after fifteen minutes.” He stops talking and he narrows his eyes and tilts his head. “Now that I think about it, whenever you had one around your parents and me, your parents never did anything to help you. It was always me.” I shrug.

“Another way they abused me. Let me suffer on my own. Whenever you helped, it wasn’t a lot, but I  _ did _ calm down a little. It just wasn’t in time.” I then look to Mat. “Wait, how  _ did _ you calm me down so fast?”

“When I was younger, maybe 7 or 8, my sister, who is younger than me by a year, was diagnosed with anxiety as well. My parents both had jobs that didn’t allow them to be home till late. So, they had me take lessons on how to handle that situation. She had so many attacks growing up that I learned to calm her down in less than five minutes.” My eyes widen. 

“Holy shit.” Everyone sits in silence for a minute.

“Nate,” Thomas starts, “what did your mom stay to you?” I sigh.

“Well…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was more of a filler. It should pick up from here.


	9. Tragedy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group talks about what Nate's mom told him and how to get him out of there.

“Nate, you don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”

“I mean, you asked, so why not.” I take a deep breath and sit up. “She told me that she and dad were coming home tomorrow instead of in a week. She said that I would be punished when they got home because I didn’t answer my phone. They also said that if I wasn’t there when they got home, they would beat me twice as hard.” I turn to look at Mat as I feel him rubbing my back. 

“I hate to ruin the moment, but if we’re gonna get you outta there, we’re gonna need proof,” Felix interrupts. Thomas raises his hand and opens his mouth to say something, but Felix continues. “They’re gonna think it might be self-inflicted, might be fake. They need real proof.”

“How do you know that?” Tyler asks. 

Felix looks at Jack and nods. Felix looks back at us and sighs.  “My dad is a cop. Seán and I were neighbors in Brighton and I knew about the abuse. I told my dad about it and he said they’d need real proof. When we got it, it was a little too late. Somehow, Seán’s dad found out and nearly beat him to death. His mom protected him until she couldn’t anymore. When the cops pulled up, my dad shot him on sight, right in front of Seán.” 

Mark, tears silently pouring down his face, hugs Jack tightly to his chest as we all hear heart-wrenching sobs coming from the small Irishman. 

Felix looks down and continues.  “My family was moving here anyway for my dad's job, and because Seán had no living family left, we decided to take him with us. But, when we got here, we realized that we didn’t have enough room for him. I knew Mark lived here and I knew how good of a person he is, so I asked him if he could stay there. Mark said yes, and the rest is history.” 

We all sit in silence and listen to the somber and melancholy cries. 

Slowly, Jack’s cries lessen until he’s out cold against Mark’s chest. Mark picks him up and walks away and down the hall. 

After a minute, I stand up to get a glass of water. I turn around when I feel a tap on my shoulder and see Thomas standing behind me. All of a sudden, Thomas wraps his arms around me and gives me a bone-crushing hug. I wrap my arms around him and look over his shoulder at MatPat, who is trying to hide a giggle. 

He mouths “He’s very emotional.” I nod, then Thomas lets go of me.

“I’m sorry you had to go through what you and Jack did. I don’t know what I’d do if my parents never accepted me.” 

I give him a sad smile, then go to the kitchen and get myself a glass of water. I lean against the island in the kitchen while drinking my water. 

Mark then comes back and sits down on the couch beside Felix and Tyler. He leans down, resting his elbows on his thighs and his head in his hands.  “What the  _ fuck _ is wrong with society!?” He angrily asks. “How can people look  _ down _ on others  _ just _ because they’re different?” He looks up and Ethan instinctively takes a step back. 

It’s been so long since I’ve seen Mark, I forgot how scary he can get. I quickly finish my water and set the glass down in the sink, then walk over to the couch. I kneel down in front of Mark and gently run my fingers through his hair, something I know will calm him down. I hear him quietly sigh and he looks up.

“Thanks.” 

Ethan sighs.  “This’ll be one hell of a day.”


	10. Getting Proof

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang finally comes up with a plan to get Nate out of his house. But first, DINNER!

“Felix, how did you and Seán get proof?” Tyler asks.

“Well, we set up cameras everywhere, mostly in the living room, and we recorded it. I had a live feed right to my computer.” Felix looks down and rubs his arms. Thomas walks over and puts a hand on his shoulder. 

“You saw the whole thing, and you couldn’t do anything,” Ethan whispers. Felix nods and Thomas gives him a hug. I stand up. 

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” I turn to Nate. “If you want, we can get different cameras so it’s not a direct feed.” He shakes his head.

“It’s fine.” I nod. 

“What’s going ahn?” I turn around and see Jack. 

“We’re gonna help Nate the same way Felix helped you.” He looks to Felix.

“I told them about the cameras.” He sighs.

“Ok.” I turn back to the gang.

“Felix and Thomas, you guys go get the cameras and tell your dad what's happening. Tyler and Ethan, you guys are gonna help me set them up when they’re here. Jack, Mat, and I are gonna help Nate with whatever he needs at home. One of those things is getting a shirt on and helping those bruises go away.” Nate and Mat look at down at his abs and Mat blushes. 

“Let’s-a-go!” MatPat says as he looks up. Tyler sighs.

“Really with the Mario?” Everyone walks out of the house, me coming out last, and I lock the door. Thomas, Felix, Tyler, and Ethan walk over to Felix’s while Nate, Mat, Jack, and I walk over to Nate’s. Mat opens the door and we all walk in. Mat and Nate walk into Nate’s room.

"Dahn't fahrget to use prahtection!"

“Suck my ass, Jack!” Jack and I giggle and start picking things up. When we finish, Jack heads to the kitchen and starts making something.

“What time is it?”

“5:23.” Thomas, Felix, Tyler, and Ethan walk into the house. 

“Hey, we’re gonna start setting up.” I nod and go into the kitchen to help Jack make dinner.

><><Time Skip><><

“Dinners ready!” Everyone walks into the kitchen and gets a bowl Chicken and Dumplings and a Reuben Roll. Nate and Mat walk out and Nate’s wearing a band-tee and jeans. I notice Mat’s hair looks a little disheveled. I look at Jack and give a small smirk.

“Hey, you guys have fun?” MatPat immediately blushes and Nate smirks.

“Hell yeah, we did.” Mat blushes even more and hides his face in the crook of Nate’s neck. Nate grabs two bowls and Reuben Rolls and hands one of each to Mat. Mat, Nate, Tyler, and Thomas sit on the couch while Jack, Ethan, Felix, and I sit at the peninsula counter. 

“Holy hell, Mark, this is amazing.” Mat holds up a Reuben Roll. “Jack, what are these?”

“They’re called Reuben Rolls. They’re a really good Irish appetizer.”

“Right you are,” I say, my mouth full of Chicken and Dumplings. We finish eating in comfortable silence. 

Once everyone finishes eating, we all meet up in the living room.

“Ok, now about those cameras.”


	11. Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cameras are all set up. But Nate's parents get home early.

“So, the cameras are connected to my laptop with a live stream.” Felix grabs his laptop off the coffee table, signs in, and shows us the screen. It shows each of the rooms where the cameras are, including the kitchen, living room, garage, and my room. 

“Great job guys.” Abruptly, the sound of a car pulling into the driveway is heard. I look at every one.  “Get the hell out of here. Go! Go through the back!” They stand up fast and run to the back. Mat stays behind. “Mat, I said go!” He quickly walks up to me and kisses me. Hard.

“I love you. Be safe.” He runs to and out the door, then slams it behind him. 

Immediately, the front door opens and my parents walk in.  “Oh, hi honey. How are you?” 

_ Awful now that you’re home.  _ “I’m great.” 

My dad brings their travel bags into their room while my mom heads into the kitchen.

“Honey, why are there so many bowls in the sink?”

“Umm, I had some friends over earlier. We were hungry, so we made something to eat.” She nods and walks over to me. “Uhh, why are you guys home so early?”

“The meeting was canceled last minute, so we had to turn around.” 

I nod my head.  “I’ve got some homework to do, so I’m gonna go to my work on it in my room.” I walk into my room and shut the door. I look into the corner of the room next to the door up by the ceiling where I know the hidden camera is.

“You guys getting this?” I pick up my phone as it dings.

From: Mat

_ Yeah, we’re getting it. Looks your parents aren’t happy. _

I get another text and it’s the link to the live stream. I open it and can see and hear my parents talking.

_ “I didn’t know Mary and Frank moved here. We moved here specifically so Nate wouldn’t have any friends.” _

_ “I know. Anne, why do we keep him? He’s useless.” _

_ “Don’t worry. In just a couple of days, we’ll never have to worry about him ever again.” _

I drop the phone and scoot back on my bed. My breath quickens as my throat tightens up. They, were gonna  _ kill  _ me? I can’t breathe. I can hear distantly hear my phone ringing. I see my parents come in.

“Nate, honey, are you ok? What’s wrong?” My mom comes over while my dad picks up my phone.  _ Shit. _

“What’s this?” When I don’t answer, he throws my phone on the ground. “What the hell is this?!” 

“What is it, honey?” My mom asks. My dad walks out of the room, only to return with one of the small cameras in his hand. My mom gasps and looks at me with a death glare and I get off the bed, walking back into the corner of the room.

“You motherfucker! You’re trying to get us arrested!” My mom storms up to me and slaps me in the face. Hard. My head jerks back and smacks into the wall. I feel my dad’s hand wrap around my throat and lifts me off the ground, slamming me into the wall once again. I’m thrown to the ground and beat to a pulp. I can feel bones break. Right before I blackout, I can faintly hear sirens. Then my vision goes black.


	12. Safe at Last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The consequences of Nate's parents finding the cameras. The police get involved and Nate's parents are threatened by the police.

The living room camera goes offline, then we see Nate’s dad tear into his room with the camera in hand. He throws it on the ground.

_“You motherfucker! You’re trying to get us arrested!”_ Shit!

“Felix, send the video to your dad and get him over here!” I yell at him.

He nods and does some stuff on his phone, then he and Thomas run out of the house.

I turn back to the screen and see Nate being slammed against the wall by his dad, his hand around his son’s throat. I feel tears spring to my face. I look over and see Jack sitting there, emotionless. I give him a hug. He looks over to me and his eyes soften. He hugs me close to his chest as I start crying. I look back at the laptop when I hear sirens.

Felix’s dad runs into the room with his gun in the air.

Nate’s dad lifts him up and holds him to his chest, but in position to snap his neck. _“You shoot me, I kill him_ _.”_

_“Sir, let your son go!”_

_“No! Not when he can be used against us.”_

_“We already have proof of child abuse, there’s nothing you can do to get out of prison.”_

Suddenly, the glass of the window behind Nate and his dad shatters. Nate’s dad’s eyes widen, and he collapses along with Nate.

Nate’s mom shrieks. _“You killed him! YOU KILLED HIM!!”_ She rushes at Felix’s dad and he has no option but to shoot. Nate’s mom collapses to the ground, gunshot wound to the head.

I slam shut the computer as I hear more sirens pull up to Nate’s house. Ethan, Tyler, MatPat, Jack, and I run outside and see Nate being lifted into an ambo, his body swollen, bruised, cut, and wrapped in gauze. In the corner of my eye, I can see Mat run up to him, talk to the paramedics, and hop in the ambo. I can also see Nate’s dad being loaded into a separate ambo. The rest of us run up to Felix, his dad, and Thomas.

“Hello, boys. I assume you all set this up?” I nod. “Well, I should probably tell Felix to let us do our jobs and not do all this, but it feels nice to get a child abuser off the street. Mr. Smith is going away for a long time.”

“Well, I’ve got something that’ll put him away for life,” Ethan says.

Felix’s dad looks intrigued. “Do tell.”

“Right before Felix and Thomas went to get you, we got footage of Nate’s parents saying that in a few days, they weren’t gonna have to deal with him ever again.” Felix’s dad thinks.

“Hmm, I could charge him with conspiracy for murder, and he would be sentenced for life. Thank you.” We all nod. “Now go home. I’m sure Mat will let you know if anything changes with Nate, and I’ll have Felix let you know if anything changes with his dad.” 

“Ok.” Our group slowly disbands, everyone going to their own house. Jack and I walk hand in hand to our house. By this point, it’s almost midnight, and we have school tomorrow. I sigh. 

Just then, my parents walk in. Great. “Mark, Jack, what’s going on? Why are there police cars everywhere?”

I look at Jack and we nod. I turn back to my parents. “Umm, why don’t you guys have a seat on the couch. This is gonna take a while.”


	13. Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate wakes up in the hospital and learns what occurred earlier.

I slowly open my eyes and the first thing I see is a bright light right in my face. I look around and see Mat, asleep in a chair beside me. I notice I’m laying on a bed. I must be in the hospital. I look back over to Mat and see old and new tears stains trailing his face. I look down and notice that my hand is being held by his, so I give his hand a squeeze.

He stirs a little, then looks up. His eyes widen and he smiles. He jumps on me and gives me a big kiss. He scoots back into the chair. “I’m so glad you’re ok.”

“What happened?”

“Your parents nearly beat you to death.”

I sigh. I go to sit up but wince as pain shoots through my back.

“Yeah, your dad was about to kill you, so the only way to save you was to shoot your dad. The bullet went through him and got lodged in your Latissimus dorsi muscle.”

I give him a strange look. “I love you, but could you speak English please?”

He smiles. “You were shot in the back.” 

“Ahh. No wonder I’m in pain.”

“Do you need some painkillers?”

I wince and nod my head.

Mat gets up for a sec and leaves the room. A couple of minutes later, he returns with a doctor and he sits down as the doctor walks up to the iv stand next to the bed. He injects something into the line, and in minutes I feel better. The doctor leaves and Mat grabs my hand once more. 

Later, Mark, Jack, Felix, and Thomas walk in. Mat’s laying on the bed beside me, my arms wrapped around him.

“Hey, guys.” 

“Hey, Nate. How are ya feeling?”

“A little sore, but painkillers are amazing.” Mark smiles. “Hey, what happened to my parents? Mat’s refused to tell me anything.”

“I don’t really know-” 

“Please, I need to know. Please?”

They all look to Felix and he sighs. “Your dad had you in a headlock, ready to snap your neck when my dad walked in. Backup arrived and a rookie in the back shot through the window and got your dad and you. Your mom freaked, thinking that your dad was dead, and she tried attacking my dad. He had no choice but to shoot. Your mom was dead instantly. Your dad survived and was taken here to be treated.”

I feel tears fall down my face. I look at Mat as he wipes them away. “I’m an orphan. Great.”

The room is silent for a minute.

“You could always stay with me.”

I look at Mat. “Are you sure your parents would be ok with that?”

“Yeah. If I explain the situation to them, they’d be more than happy.”

Thomas smiles. “Done deal. Nate, you’re gonna be living with your boyfriend. Good times are ahead.”


	14. Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate officially moves into MatPat's place and they have some fun.

It’s been three months since that night. I was out of the hospital three weeks after that. My dad was just presumed guilty three days ago and I’m officially moved into Mat’s. I’ve been living in an orphanage because Mat’s parents weren’t allowed to adopt me immediately because of the trial and the hospital. My dad was sentenced to life for child endangerment, child abuse, and attempted murder. 

Because of what happened, Tyler and Ethan’s parents said they weren’t allowed to hang around us anymore for fear of them getting hurt. 

“There. That should do it.” I wipe my hands together, rubbing off the fake dust after hanging up my last poster. I turn to Mat and he smiles.  “What?” I ask. 

He just smirks. That cute bastard.  “Nothing. You’re just cute when you decorate.” 

I walk up to him and boop him on the nose.  “And you’re cute all the time.” I give him a kiss, which turns into a makeout session, which turns into us falling onto the bed and things to happen.

><><Time Skip><><

We finish pulling on all our clothes when MatPat's mom knocks on the door, which is thankfully locked.  “Boys, you have some visitors.” 

We fix our hair and hide all the evidence of our recent activity, then open the door to see Mark and Jack.

“Hey, guys. Come on in.” I move back and open the door wider to let them in. We all sit on the bed.  “What’re you guys doing here?”

“Well, we haven’t been able to see Nate in almost three months.” 

Mat raises his hands and drops them with an exasperated sigh.  “Nice to see you, too, guys.” 

Jack giggles.  “‘Ello, Mat.” 

Mat shakes his head.  “Hello to you, Jack.” 

“You guys want to do something?” Mark asked. “It’s one, and Jack and I are free all day.”

“Why don’t we play video games and eat pizza?” I ask.

"Dat sooehnds amazin right abooeht now." 

Mat smiles, and thirty minutes later, we’re all sitting in the middle of Mat’s living room playing video games and eating pizza.

“Goddammit, Jack! I’m on your team!”  Jack, Mat, and I are rolling on the floor, laughing our asses off. We’re playing CoD and Jack kept shooting Mark, thinking he’s on the opposite team.

“Sorry!”

><><Time Skip><><

“Alright, we gotta head home. We’ll see you tomorrow, guys.”

“See ya.” At that, Mat closed the door behind them. 

He turns around and I pin him to the door, my hands against the door on either side of him.  “Now that we’re alone, you wanna have some more fun?” 

He smirks and nods.  “Hell yeah.” He leads me to his room and slams the door, locking it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, we ain't quite done just yet.


	15. School Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate finally goes back to school! Only, more trouble ensues.

Today is Monday and It’s officially Nate’s second day at school even though he’s been here for three months now. I walk into school hand in hand with Jack and see Nate and Mat leaning against the lockers talking. We walk up to them and they turn to look at us.

“Are you two official yet?” 

Nate scoffs.  “Dude, we were official months ago.” Nate leans over and gives Mat a kiss on the forehead, which causes Mat to blush hardcore. Jack and I chuckle. The bell rings and we all head to our class.

We walk into the class and meet up with the others. I turn around and see Tyler and Ethan sitting in the back of the class holding hands and talking, the seats farthest away from us. I sigh and turn back around. I look over at Jack as he gives my shoulder a pat. We all look to the front of the class as the teacher walks in and, well, starts teaching us.

><><Time Skip><><

Jack and I walk out of our class and are on our way to class when we spot Nate being pinned to the lockers by one of my asshole teammates. Mat is behind the guy trying to pull him off Nate. 

I immediately run up to them.  “Hey, Christian! Get off him!” 

He turns and looks at me. He’s a nasty person with bright red, curly hair, rotten brown eyes, and he’s the biggest kid in school. But that doesn’t mean he’s the strongest.  “Or what? You’re gonna kick me off the team? We both know I’m the best player on the team.”

“That’s a load of bullshit.” 

He gets mad at me and lets Nate go, which is what I was hoping for. He stalks up to me, then gives me a right-hook directly to the face. 

“Mark!”

I stumble back from the force and Jacks rushes up to me.

I walk up to where I was standing and wipe the blood away from my nose. Christian smirks and crosses his arms. The longer he looks at me, I can see fear slowly creep into his eyes. As soon as he drops his arms, I deliver a series of punches to his chest and stomach, then give him an uppercut to the chin, knocking him off his feet and right on his back. I look up and see Mat, Nate, and Jack all with wide eyes, Jack lowering his phone. As I try to intake air, I notice people surrounding us. I also notice some people taking a video on their phones. 

A teacher walks over and sees Christian unconscious, and sees me covered in blood.  “Mr. Fischbach, principal’s office, now!” Christian chooses that moment to wake up. “Mr. Alexander, principal’s office, now!” He slowly gets up and follows me and the teacher to the principal’s office. We walked in and Christian and I sat down in the two chairs in front of the principal’s desk.

“How may I-” He looks up and stops talking. I think he’s shocked at the blood covering us. He looks at the teacher.

“I found Mr. Alexander unconscious on the ground and Mr. Fischbach standing over him.” The principal looks at us.

“Christian was pinning my friend against the lockers. I walked over to them and told him to let him go. He said he was the best player on the football team, and I called bs. He got mad and gave me a right hook to the face.”

“Did not!” Christian interrupts.

“Quiet, Mr. Alexander. Let Mr. Fischbach finish.”

“I’ll admit, it was not the smartest move on my part, but I defended myself and gave him a piece of his own medicine.” 

Principal Davis nods and looks to Christian.  “Is this true, Mr. Alexander.”

“Absolutely not! I was talking to his friend when Mark came up and beat the shit outta me!”

“Language,” the teacher, Mrs. Stewart, berates him. 

“Then how do you explain the broken and bloody nose?” Principal Davis asks. 

Christian stays silent. 

Suddenly there’s a knock on the office door. Mrs. Stewart opens the door and I turn around in my chair to see Jack is standing in the doorway.

“What can I help you with, Mr. McLoughlin?” 

“Umm, I’ve got the whole fight on video.”


	16. Explanation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The principal sees the video and Mark and Christian are given different consequences. Mark goes home to find his parents already there. Uh oh.

“And how did you manage to get the whole fight on video?” The principal asks.

“I’ve been friends with Mark for years. I know when a fights about to break out. I would stop it, but there’s no stopping Mark when a friend’s in trouble.” 

Principal Davis waves him in, and Mrs. Stewart lets him in. He walks in and sets the phone on the desk. Principal Davis picks up the phone and turns around so we can all see.  The video shows exactly what I explained. Principal Davis turns around and hands Jack his phone back.

“Mr. Alexander, you will be suspended for the rest of the week, and Mr. Fischbach, you will be suspended for the rest of the day, but you may come back tomorrow.” 

I nod.  “Thank you, and I’m sorry for the inconvenience.” 

He smiles.  “It’s ok. You were defending yourself and a friend. Also, paperwork is boring.” I smile and walk out with Jack, Christian, and Mrs. Stewart. 

“Mark, I’ll send your homework home with Seán, and Christian, I’ll send your homework home with James.” We both nod and she walks away. 

Christian turns to Jack and me.  “You’ll pay for this.”

“Go home, Christian.” He sneers and walks off. I turn to Jack. I give him a hug and a quick kiss.  “I’ll see you at home. You fine riding home with Nate and Mat?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I love ya. Also, don’t forget to get your nose checked out.”

“I won’t. Love ya, too.” I give him one last kiss, then walk outside and walk to the car. I unlock it and climb in. I start the car and start the drive home. 

><><Time Skip><><

I pull into the driveway and cut the engine. I get out of the car and see my parents' cars in the open garage. Uh oh. I walk up to the front door and walk in. 

My mom and dad are sitting on the couch watching tv. My mom turns around when she hears me close the door.  “Mark, honey, what are you doing home so early? And what happened to your nose?” 

I give a nervous chuckle and rub the back of my neck as my dad also turns around.  “Umm, give me a minute. I promise I’ll explain.” I get out my phone and ask Jack to send me the video. A minute later, my phone vibrates and I sit down on the couch in between my parents. They turn off the tv as I play the video for them. 

They’re silent for a minute after the video finishes.  “Well, at least you were defending your friend.” 

“Mark, look at me.” 

I look at my dad and he gently places his fingertips on my nose, and I immediately flinch and back up.  “Ahh,” I wince in pain. 

“Mark, your nose is broken and dislocated. I need to set it before we do anything.” I whine a little. “Mark,” He says. I sigh and scoot closer to him. My mom grabs my hand and I squeeze her hand as my dad grabs my nose and physically moves it. I yelp and nearly scream as I feel my nose snap back into place. I feel bad for my mom’s hand. I’ve got a strong grip. 

As soon as I let go of my mom’s hand, she gets up and runs to the kitchen. She comes back a minute later with an ice pack, a glass of water, and two ibuprofen pills. I swallow the pills and my dad gets up. I lay down and my mom gently lays the icepack on my face, trying not to irritate my nose. My mom leans over the back of the couch and gives my forehead a kiss.

“Try and get some sleep.” I close my eyes and slowly drift off to sleep.


	17. Injury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack rides home with MatPat and Nate and Nate reconnects with Mark's parents.

I can’t believe Mark got in trouble. It’s all my fault. God, if I’d been able to stand up for myself then-

“Don’t do that.” 

I turn to look at Mat, who’s eating his lunch.  “What?” 

He looks up at me.  “Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?” 

He turns in his seat to fully face me and he gently takes my hands in his.  “Don’t blame yourself. I know that look in your eyes. You’re blaming yourself and you need to stop. Mark chose to risk injury to help you.”

“But if-”

“But what? If you defended yourself, you could’ve gotten seriously hurt. Mark’s trained to handle this, we would’ve been fine. You’ve been through too much. You may not like it, but you’re a little fragile, but that’s to be expected after what you went through.” 

I sit in silence, taking in what Mat said, but my brain focusing on a particular sentence.  “Wait, what do you mean “Mark’s trained to handle this?” What does that mean?”

“Mark’s a boxer. Been one since he was little. He’s the boxing coach’s assistant at the gym downtown, and once he’s old enough, he’ll take over and become the boxing coach.” 

My eyes widen. Mark? A boxing coach? That’s news to me. Then it clicks.  “I guess that’s where he used to go.” Mat looks at me confused. “In the mornings, he used to go running, but later in the day, he’d say his knuckles were sore.” Mat nods in understanding.

The bell rings, signaling time to head to class. Mat and I stand up and dump our trash in the trash, duh, and separate to head to our next classes. I give Mat a quick peck on the forehead, then walk away from each other.

><><Time Skip><><

I walk up to the car and see Mat and Jack already waiting. 

“Hey, Jack, you riding home with us?” 

He nods. Mat unlocks the car and gets in the driver's seat, I get in the shotgun seat, and Jack gets in the back. Mat starts the car and starts the drive home.

“Hey, Jack, how did Mark look after the fight?”

“Well, his nose looked a little crooked, so I don’t know if it was broken or just dislocated. His fists also looked pretty bloodied and bruised.” I could hear his voice crack a little at the end.

“I’m sure he’s fine. He’s Mark. He’ll be good in no time.” Mat pulls into the driveway and cuts the engine. 

We all get out and Jack starts walking over to his house, then turns around.  “Do you guys want to see him?” 

Mat and I look at each other and shrug. We turn back to Jack.  “Yeah.” 

We follow him two houses down and we notice the two cars in the garage along with the Subaru in the driveway.

“Uh oh. I hope the video helped him get out of trouble.” 

“Let’s hope.” Jack unlocks the door and we all walk in.

“Mary, Frank, I’m home!” He calls out. Mark’s parents are sitting at the peninsula in the kitchen. 

We all walk over and sit in the remaining seats.  “How’s Mark?” I ask.

“He’s fine. Had a broken and dislocated nose, and slightly bruised knuckles. Thankfully he’s a boxer, or his hands would’ve been worse.”

“You know, he never told me he was a boxer. Even  _ while  _ we were dating.” We all look at the man passed out on the couch with his beloved dog, Buddi, asleep on the floor beside him. 

“I actually don’t know why he didn’t tell you. He’s very proud of how far he’s come over the years.”

“No doubt. From what we saw at school, I’d say he’s pretty good.” 

Mark’s mom turns to look at me.  “Speaking of that, how are you, Nate?”

“I’m fine. Throat’s a little sore, but I’m fine.” 

She picks up her phone. 

“Your neck disagrees,” his dad adds. Mark’s mom hands me her phone and the camera app is open. I position the camera so I can see my throat, and what I see startles me a little.

There’s a light bruise forming a ring around my throat.

“That looks like it hurts.”


	18. Cooking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After dropping Jack off at home and checking in on Mark, Nate and MatPat go home and do homework. They get hungry, so Nate decides to make dinner.

We all look over to the couch and see Mark sitting up, Buddi hopping up onto his lap.

“Glad to see you’re awake,” Mark’s dad said. 

He goes to pop his knuckles when Jack gently grabs his hands.  “I wouldn’t if I were you.” Mark gives him a quick kiss, then sits between his parents at the peninsula. 

“How’s your nose?”

“It’s fine. Doesn’t hurt as much as earlier. How was school?”

“Fine.” Mark mock glares at Jack, causing the said man to snicker. 

“Hey, Mark, why did you never tell me you were a boxer?” 

His mom’s eyes widen.  “You never told him?” 

Mark gives a shy smile and rubs the back of his neck, lightly chuckling. He then drops his hand and becomes serious.  “I never told you because I was threatened.” 

My eyes widen.  “By who?” I ask

“By your parents. I was told that if I continued to date you, then they would kill me. I originally started to protect myself, but then eventually it was a way to vent my anger.” We all sit in silence.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“Also threatened. Your parents said that if I told you, they would kill both of us.” More silence.

“Jesus, my parents were  _ fucked _ up.”

“Yes, they were.” 

We all sit in silence before Mat gets up.  “Well, Mark, I’m glad to see you're doing just fine. Nate and I have some homework to work on, so we’ll see you tomorrow after school.” 

I stand up and grab Mat’s hand.  “Have a good day. Nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Fischbach.”

“Have a good day, boys. Good to see you too, Nate.” 

As Mat and I are walking out the door, we hear Mark shout out,  “Use protection!” I turn around and flip him off, which ends up earning a slap from Mat. I hear everyone chuckle and Mat and I leave. We walk back into the house and lock the door behind us.

“Time to start homework?” 

He nods.  “Yep.” We sit down on the couch and pull out our homework.

><><Time Skip><><

“Finally! It’s over!” I throw my binder and finished homework on the ground while Mat gently sets his stuff on the coffee table. We both lean back on the couch. 

“What do you want to do?” Mat asks. 

I shrug my shoulders and lean my head on his shoulder. I grab my phone and check the time; it reads 5:43.  “You wanna try making dinner?” Mat gives me a look. “What?” 

“Nate, no offense, you couldn’t cook to save your life.” 

I gasp and feign hurt, setting my hand on my chest.  “I can so. I don’t know what you are talking about.” Mat sighs as he chuckles a little. I stand up and take his hand, leading him to the kitchen. “One thing my parents taught me when I was forced to make them dinner was a traditional Korean dinner.”

“What’s that?”

“Hoeddeok, or sweet, syrupy pancakes. They’re fucking delicious.” Mat swats my arm. “What?”

“You know I don’t like swearing.” 

“I’m sorry. They’re  _ frigging _ delicious. Better?”

“Better.” His phone rings and he walks away as he answers. I look in his cabinets and pantry to see if they’ve got all the ingredients. I grab what I need and notice there are a couple of things that Mat’s family doesn’t have. Just then, he walks in and sets his phone down on the kitchen counter. 

“My parents said they’re coming home early, so they’re gonna run by the store. Is there anything we need?” He grabs a piece of paper and a pencil.

“Yeah. We need instant dry yeast, white sugar, finely chopped Walnuts, black sesame seeds, and ground cinnamon.” He writes it all down and takes a picture of it, presumably sending it to his parents. “Now we wait because we can’t do anything until we have all the ingredients.” We both walk over to the couch and turn on the tv.

><><Time Skip><><

Mat and I hear the front door open and close. We turn off the tv and look.

“Hey, guys, we’re home. What did you need all the things for?”

“Nate wanted to make a food called Hodock?” Mat looks to me. 

“Close enough. It’s called Hoeddeok and It’s really good. It’s kind of like a sweet and syrupy pancake.” 

MatPat’s mom smiles.  “Well then, let’s get cooking.” 

I smile. We wash our hands, then separate the ingredients into two piles: wet and dry.  “Mat, could you get two teaspoons of white sugar?” 

“Sure.” I grab the instant dry yeast and the flour and pour it into a mixing bowl. Mat comes over and hands me a teaspoon filled with white sugar. I pour it in the bowl, then Mat refills the teaspoon and I pour that into the bowl as well. I grab another bowl.

“Would you like to pour the milk and the water in?” He smiles.

“I sure would.” He grabs the cup of milk and the ¼ cup of water and pours them in the bowl. I mix them all together, then put them in the microwave for 20 seconds.

I pull the bowl out and set it on the counter.

“Grab a fork and mix this in while I pour it.” He nods and grabs a fork. As I pour the mixture into the dry bowl, Mat mixes it together with the fork.

While he does that, I get the flour and gently spread it over the counter. Once Mat evenly combines the dough, I grab the bowl and lightly pour it onto the flour. He takes the bowl from me and with both knead it for about two minutes, the dough sticking to our hands. 

Mat cleans his hands and mixes the brown sugar, ¼ cup white sugar, walnuts, sesame seeds, and cinnamon together in a Ziplock bag while I shape the dough into a ball. I cover the dough with a wet paper towel while Mat combines the stuff in the bag. I wash my hands and set a 10-minute timer on my phone. Mat sets the bag on the counter and we watch some tv.

When the timer goes off, I turn it off and we both make our way to the kitchen.

“Hey, Mat, could you grab a knife, please?” He nods and does that while I take the paper towel off the dough and throw it away. I roll the dough into a cylinder, then Mat cuts it into ten pieces. I roll each into a ball, then he grabs the rolling pin that resides on the ledge above his stove, and rolls each piece until it’s a 5-inch circle. Mat sets the rolling pin down and we both grab two circles. He grabs another teaspoon and we both take turns putting two teaspoons of filling, the stuff in the ziplock bag, onto the middle of the dough. Once we do that, we wrap the dough around the filling, forming into a ball by taking 4 corners of the dough and pinching together in the middle, sealing it completely. We flip them all over, seam side down. Mat rolls each ball into a 5-inch circle once more, making sure the filling stays in the dough, while I preheat the oven.

When Mat finishes, I grab the margarine from the fridge and put it in the skillet Mat set on the stove. I spread it around with a paper towel, seeing as how I have a higher pain and heat tolerance. Once the margarine is melted, we place the dough in the skillet and we cook them until they are golden brown, around 8 minutes on each side. Mat and I separate them onto four plates and set them out. Mat grabs the syrup from the pantry and sets it out while I set out the utensils. We both sit down at the counter.

“Dinners ready!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually looked up the directions on how to make this and followed it step-by-step. This was new and I really liked the idea. If the chapter isn't enough direction, then ask me and I'll send you a link to the website I used. I haven't made it myself, but I would love to.


	19. Beginning of Something Bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark and Jack get ready for the day. Nothing else really happens. Oh! Except for jack being ambushed.

I turn off the tv and look to my right. I see Jack leaning against the headboard, fast asleep. I adjust him so he’s laying flat on his back, and he immediately rolls over to his side, pulling the blanket up to his chin. I smile and lean over, giving him a kiss on the cheek. I lay down so I’m facing his back and I wrap my arm around his torso, pulling him closer to me. He rolls over and lays his head on my chest.

“Is breá liom tú. So foehckin moehch.” It takes me a second, but I realize he went from Irish to English with a heavy Irish accent. That sometimes happens when he’s tired or overwhelmed.

“나는 너를 사랑해 (naneun neoleul salanghae). Very fucking much.”

“Ded you joehst make foehn o' me?” He whispers, exhaustion lacing his voice.

“Just a little bit. Now go to bed.” I give him one last kiss before I close my eyes and go to sleep.

><><Time Skip><><

I open my eyes, roll over, and turn off the alarm on my phone. I roll back over and see Seán still passed out, his lime-green hair adhered to his forehead. I smile and lean over, giving him a kiss. I lean back and get up as he slowly opens his eyes, blinking them to adjust to the darkness.

“ ' ello, Soehnshine , ” 

I smirk.  “Hello, Grasshead.” 

He sticks his tongue out at me. I stick mine back at him. He quickly sits up and kisses me, before falling back down onto the bed. 

I grab my phone and start playing some music, something that wakes the both of us up. He slowly sits up as I rummage through our dresser and closet looking for something to wear. I find his Berlin sweatshirt and black ripped skinny jeans and throw them to him as I grab my famous red and black flannel and black jeans. I turn around and see he’s still laying in bed.  “Are you gonna get up?” 

He lifts his head to look at me, then drops it back down.  “Nah, I dink I'm gahnna stay 'ere,” 

I smirk and walk over to him. I yank back all the covers, causing him to yelp. I throw our clothes on top of him and pick him up bridal style. I walk into the bathroom, setting him down on the counter. I walk over to the shower and turn it on. I turn around and see Jack slowly waking up and undressing. I undress as well and we hop into the shower, him jumping in after.

><><Time Skip><><

We walk into the kitchen and see a note on the counter.

_ Your dad and I had to leave early this morning, so we decided to make you guys breakfast before we leave. _

_ Love you,  _

_ Mom _

I smile and look at the neatly stacked pancakes sitting on two plates. I grab one while Seán grabs the other and he sits at the bar while I grab the syrup from the pantry. I toss the plastic bottle to him and I grab two dry glasses from the dishwasher. I grab the milk from the fridge, pour it into the two glasses, put it back, and bring the cups to Jack. He grabs one while I keep the other. We dig into the food and finish it within minutes.

“Holy shit, I forgot how good your parents are at cooking.”

“I know, right?” Seán stands up and grabs our plates and cups, setting them down gently in the sink. I pull out my phone from my pocket and check the time.  “Alright, It’s almost nine. We gotta go.” He nods and we both grab our bags, heading out towards my car. Throwing our bags in the back, we get in the front and I start the engine and the twenty-minute drive to school.

><><Time Skip><><

Seán and I get out and grab our bags, then walk up to the school. We walk through the door and make our way to find Nate and Mat.

“Why do I have a feeling that they’re gonna be making out again?” 

I chuckle.  “Because they probably will.” 

We finally find Nate and Mat, and expectedly, they’re making out against Nate’s locker. Jack and I look at each other. Jack lightly chuckles while I roll my eyes and lightly chuckle. We look back at the two sucking each other’s faces off. 

I clear my throat.  “I mean, we know you love each other, but save the face sucking for the honeymoon.” 

They hurriedly move away from each other. Mat heavily blushes while Nate just smirks. I forgot how cocky he can be sometimes. But he’s only usually like that when he’s in an extremely good mood. 

“Now that that’s over, let’s head to class.” I grab Jack’s hand while Nate grabs Mat’s hand and we start walking to class. 

**(Jack’s Pov)(First Pov change that isn’t Nate or Mark)**

We’re all walking to class when I realize I left my books in my locker. I let go of Mark’s hand and he immediately turns around.

“I left my books in my locker. I’ll meet you back in class.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“I’ll be fine. I don’t want you to be late.”

“But-” 

I lean forward and give him a chaste kiss.  “I don’t want you to be late because of me. I’ll be fine.” I can tell he doesn’t want to, but he gives a sigh of defeat.

“Fine, but hurry back.” I nod and give him one more kiss before turning around and walking to my locker.

As I reach my locker, I’m immediately slammed into it. I look up and see Christian Alexander with a sinister sneer. 

“I told him I’d make him pay.”


	20. Revenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christian decides to take his revenge out on Jack. Thankfully his friends find him in time.

I’m brought outside and am immediately slammed against the wall.

“Man, who knew the captain of the football team was dating a pansy.” 

I go to take a swing at Christian, but he grabs my fist and wraps a hand around my throat, slamming me against the wall again. I hit my head and my vision goes blurry, but he keeps the pressure on my throat.  “Why? Why are you doin dis?”

“You and Mark got me suspended for a week. I also got kicked off the football team. So, when Mark finds you beaten like this, he will let his guard down. Then, I can take my revenge.” 

I spit blood at him.  “H-'e took you down wance.” I take a shaky breath and a cough. “What makes dink you can take ‘im down?” 

Christian stands up straighter.  “He caught me off guard. But this time, I’ll be ready.” Christian let’s go of me and I fall to the ground. He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a pocket knife. He flips it open and I scoot back more against the wall.  “But who knows? He might not even come looking for you. He might be glad I took care of you the way he’s always wanted to.” 

I shake my head.  “No. ‘e cares abooeht me.”

“Does he? Does he  _ really _ ?”  He starts moving, but he freezes when we hear the school doors open.

“Jack!”

“Seán!”

“Babe!”

Five different voices, all screaming my name.

“Guess I’ll have to finish this quickly.” He winds his arms and thrusts the knife into my thigh.

“AAAAHHHHH!” I scream in pain, a little over the top so the others can find me, but it still hurts like a bitch. Christian rips out the knife and runs away, leaving me to bleed out. 

_ What if they don’t find me? _

_ What if I die before they do? _

_ What if- _

“Seán!”

“I’m ‘ere!” I yell. I take a shaky breath as I calm down. I look down and bite my bottom lip to keep from screaming from the pain, causing tears to spring to my eyes.

“Oh, baby.” I look up and see Mark, Nate, MatPat, Thomas, and Felix in front of me. 

Mark kneels down and applies pressure to my wound, causing me to scream.  “I know, baby. I’m sorry.” He turns to look at the others. “Guys, call an ambulance. He needs to get this looked at now!” They nod and all runoff. He looks back at me and I can see his heart breaking. He takes off his flannel and presses it against the wound, causing me to hiss in pain, gripping his forearm tightly.

“I’m sahrry.” 

He looks up at me.  “Why are you sorry?”

“If I 'ad fooehght back 'arder, dis wooehldn't 'ave 'appened. You wooehldn't be ruinin yooehr loehcky flannel ahr wahrryin abooeht me.” 

He cups my cheek with his blood-covered hand and leans forward, kissing me gently yet passionately.  “Ruining my flannel doesn’t matter to me if you’re injured. And I’ll always worry about you. No matter what.” 

I take a deep breath and realize I can’t breathe well.  “Mark, I can’t breathe.” I feel my eyes start to close.

“Seán? Seán, baby, stay with me.  _ Come on, stay with me. _ ” 

I take a deep breath and close my eyes, passing out.

><><Time Skip><><

I groan and slowly open my eyes. I feel someone grab my hand and I look over. Mark is sitting in a chair beside the bed I’m laying on, tears streaming down his face. I give his hand a little squeeze as I look around and see Nate in a chair in the corner of the room, Mat passed out on his lap. Thomas and Felix are asleep in separate chairs. I look back at Mark and grip his hand tighter as I feel a burning pain shoot through my left leg.

“I know it hurts. I’m sorry.” 

I cup his cheek as I simultaneously wince in pain.  “It’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself.”

“I can’t help it. Christian attacked you because of me. Because of my actions.”

“If you hadn’t of pissed Christian off and gotten him away from Nate, Nate would most likely be injured right now. You did what you had to do. What happened to me was just a repercussion.”

“But-”

“No buts. Now get up here and cuddle with me,” I yawn. “I’m tired.” 

Mark smiles.  “Yes, sir.” He gets up and pulls down the covers as I scoot over, giving him enough room to climb in the bed with me. Once he’s comfortable, I cuddle up to his chest as he wraps his arms around me.

“사랑해 ( salanghae ).”

“Tá mé I ngrá leat freisin.”


	21. Heartfelt Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate's depression kicks up again at the hospital.

I slowly open my eyes and remember where I am. At the hospital. Then I remember why. Jack was attacked. I feel the urge to get outside as memories from the last time I was here. I notice some weight on my lap and see MatPat fast asleep. I gently pick him up and stand up, setting him back down on the seat. I grab one of the blankets stacked at the end of Jack’s bed and cover my boyfriend with it.

Sometimes, I still can’t believe that I can call him that.  _ My _ boyfriend. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to call someone that.

I walk out of Jack’s room and out of the hospital. I just, need time to think.

_ It’s your fault. You’re the reason he’s in the hospital. _

_ You’re weak. Pathetic. Why can’t you be stronger? _

_ You could’ve prevented this. _

_ Why didn’t you- _

“Nate?” I turn around and see Thomas with his arms wrapped around him, clearly shivering. He’s wearing a t-shirt and shorts.

“Thomas, why don’t you go back inside. You’re clearly cold.”

“I could say the same to you, except I can’t tell if you’re cold or not.” 

I look down, then look back up and turn away. I’m wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. It’s about forty degrees and I’m not shivering. Granted, it was almost 70 degrees earlier, but my sweatshirt is wrapped around my waist at this moment.  “One of my parent’s punishments would be to have me stand outside in my underwear on the coldest nights of the year, which were usually around 30-40 degrees.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” 

I look back up at him.  “It’s fine. You didn’t know.” It’s silent between us for a couple of minutes.

“Why are you out here?”

“I had to let my thoughts roam before they affected my mood if that makes sense.”

“Yeah, that makes perfect sense. You’re not thinking the best things and you don’t want anyone else to notice.” I nod my head, then I cock my head and look at him as I realize that’s  _ exactly _ what I meant. Seeing my expression, he chuckles.

“You’re confused, I bet. I know what you mean because, for the longest time, I went through the same thing.” He leads me over to a bench sitting in front of the building and we both sit down.

“What do you mean?”

“When I was 9 or 10, I was diagnosed with light depression. It’s a lot better now, but for a long while I used to beat myself up on the inside but would smile my head off on the outside. I can tell if someone else is doing the same thing.”

It’s silent again for a bit. 

“What were you thinking about?”

“How it’s my fault that Jack’s here. That he was injured.”

Thomas’s actions surprise me. If I were to tell anyone this, they would tell me that it wasn’t my fault. That I had no control over the situation.

But Thomas, he just simply asks me: 

“Why do you think that?”

“If I had been able to fight off Christian, then Mark wouldn’t have had to fight him, therefore, he wouldn’t have made him mad, leading him to attack Jack. If I had just been strong, none of this would’ve happened.”

“I see. Do you know what would’ve happened if you did fight back?” I lean forward and rest my head in my hands. Seeing as I’m staying silent, Thomas continues.  “If you had fought back, you would’ve been injured. Then, Christian most likely would’ve come at you again and you’d be in the hospital with Mat doing what you’re doing now, thinking ‘why didn’t I do more?’”

By this point, tears are streaming down my face, thinking about Mat being sad over me.

_ He shouldn’t be sad over you. He should be glad if something were to happen to you.  _

_ You don’t deserve his tears. _

_ You don’t deserve- _

“You’re probably thinking that you don’t deserve MatPat.” I look up at him with wide eyes. He just taps his head. “I told you, I can tell what you’re thinking. Anyway, I know that Mat cares. You  _ do _ deserve him. You’re good for each other. You balance each other.”

Silence once more.

“Nate? Thomas?” The two of us look over at the hospital entrance. Mat is standing there with the blanket I laid on him earlier wrapped around his shoulders.

“What are you two doing out here?”

“We’re just talking.”

“Well, I hope you’re finished because Jacks awake."


	22. Why Him?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MatPat gets a little jealous.

Thomas, Mat, and I walk back into the hospital, following the signs back to Jack’s room.

When we walk into the room, we see Mark and Jack in the hospital bed, Mark passed out with his head leaning on Jack’s chest, who is wide awake.

“Shh, don’t wake him up. He’s so drained,” Jack whispers. I look into the corner of the room and see Felix take a picture of the two, then stealthily put his phone back in his pocket. 

“Felix, I saw you. You’re not that sneaky.”

“Dammit,” he cursed under his breath. Jack lets out a breath and leans back against the bed.

“Where were you guys?” Jack asks.

“We were just outside. Thomas was helping me through something.” I look at MatPat and see a brief flash of what looks like,  _ jealousy? _ But as fast as it appears, he’s back to a small smile.

It’s silent for a minute.

“You know, we know you’re not asleep Mark. I least, I know,” Felix comments out of nowhere. Everyone looks at Mark as he stretches and yawns against Jack’s chest. I look at Felix with an incredulous look.

“How the hell did you know he was awake?” I ask.

“I could see his breathing quicken. It either meant he was about to have a nightmare or he’s awake. Plus, I saw his eyes quickly flutter open.” As Mark settles against Jack’s chest, he flips Felix off. 

As a result, Felix feigns hurt.  “I’m hurt by that, Mark. How could you?”

“Yeah, how could you do that, Markimoo?” Jack lovingly asks. Mark moans in exhaustion and leans up, giving Jack a quick peck on the lips.

“I don’t really care. The only thing I care about right now is that you’re ok.” Mark kisses him once more, this one lasting a little longer.

I look over and see both Felix and Thomas fake gagging while I feel Mat grasp my hand. I turn and look at him and see him gesture towards the hallway. Following behind him, I walk out to the hallway and close the door behind me.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” I ask. I’m genuinely confused. He crosses his arms as he bites his bottom lip, a nervous habit of his.

“Why were you outside with Thomas?” I cock my head to the side as I look at him confused.

“I told you, we were just talking. He was helping me through something.”

“I guess what I’m asking, why him?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, really confused by this point.

“I mean, why didn’t you wake me? Why did you wake  _ him _ to talk?” I let out a breath. So  _ that’s  _ what he’s worried about.

“I didn’t wake him up.” Now  _ he _ looks confused.

“But I thought,” he starts, but he doesn’t finish.

“I woke up for some unknown reason and I was thinking some things that I shouldn’t have.” As I see his eyes widen in horror, I realize what I said and mentally slap myself. “Not like that!” I quickly reassure him. “I meant that I was blaming myself.” MatPat’s muscles relax as he takes a deep breath. “I didn’t wake you up cause I didn’t want you to worry. Plus, I’m not used to telling people how I feel. Other than Mark, I never had anyone to tell anything to anyway. But Thomas woke up himself and came outside. He helped me stop blaming myself.” It’s silent for another minute.

I grunt in response to Mat rushing up to me and wrapping his arms around my slim frame.

“I’m sorry. I’ve just, I’ve never really had good romantic relationships before. I just got scared.” I wrap my arms around him and smile as I feel his tense muscles relax under my touch. 

“I don’t know what you’ve gone through, but just know I would never cheat on you.  _ Ever _ . I love you too much. I couldn’t ever do that to you.” He looks up, lust clear in his eyes, and smashes his lips against mine. I kiss back and he runs his fingers through my hair as I gently rest my hands on his hips.

Not long after we start, I gently set my hands on his chest and lightly push him away. I lean forward and whisper in his ear.

“Let’s save this for later.” I lean back and see him blush before he leans against my chest. I look behind me over my shoulder as I hear the door to Jack’s room open and see Thomas’ head peep out.

“If you guys are done making out, we have some plans to make.” I feel MatPat’s grip on my shirt tighten. I bet he feels  _ super _ embarrassed. I pry his hands off my shirt and take them in mine, pulling him behind me and into Jack’s room.

Mark is now wide awake and sitting beside Jack in the bed. 

“Now, to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”


	23. Protection Agency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark's parents stop by the hospital along with the principal to discuss what happened.

I open my mouth to say something when there’s a knock on the door. The door opens and our principal walks in.

“Principle Davis, what are you doing here? It’s like-” I check my watch, “6 in the morning.” 

Principal Davis chuckles.  “Well, I wanted to talk to you before I talked to your parents about what happened. How are you, Mr. McLoughlin?”

“I'm good. A little sore but good.” 

‘Well, that’s good to hear. I would like you to know Christian has been expelled and arrested.”

“That’s good to hear. Will we all be safe at school, though?” Thomas asks.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, like we have our own group, Christian has his own group as well,” Felix says.

“So you’re thinking that they might go after you for getting their friend in trouble.” 

We all nod.

“Well, we will watch you guys closely to make sure nothing like this happens again. We will use the buddy system, as childish as it is. I will move your classes so that you all have at least one of the others in your class.”

“Well, Nate and I have all the same classes together,” I say.

“That’s good. If you decide to leave your classroom, then bring the other person along.” It’s silent for a moment.

“We don’t blame the school,” Felix says. “None of us plan on suing.”

“Well, thank you. I wish we had caught this before anything happened, but alas,” he shrugs his shoulders, not finishing his sentence.

A knock on the door startled us. Oh, boy. My parents are here. 

“Mark? Séan? What happened?” My mom asks, tears in her eyes.

“Something happened at school.”

My dad sees Principal Davis while my mom checks on Séan.  “You’re the principal, right?" 

I know what my dad is doing.  “Dad…”

“No, if he’s the principal, he should’ve stopped this from happening.”

“You are right. As the principal, I feel immense guilt for letting this happen in my own school. We are implementing the buddy system to-”

“Oh, so because my son failed to protect himself in an  _ attack _ , you’re gonna treat them all like  _ kindergarteners _ ?!”

“Dad/Frank!” My mom and I yell.

“We’re doing this to ensure all of their safety. We plan on having at least one of the others in all their classes. We will also be announcing this incident to the whole school, but no names will be revealed.”

I look behind me to see my mom giving Jack a kiss on the forehead as he rolls on his side, pulling the blanket up to his chin.

“I'm tired. Good night.” 

I walk over and give him a quick kiss on the lips.  “Good night. 당신을 사랑합니다 ( dangsin-eul salanghabnida ).”

“Grá duit, freisin.” He closes his eyes and slowly falls asleep. 

“Why and how did this happen?” My dad asks. 

I turn around to face everyone.  “Remember when I came home with a broken nose?”

“Yeah. You showed us the video of the fight.”

“Well, after that, I was suspended for the rest of the day, which is why I was home early. Christian was suspended for a week and kicked off the football team,” I tell them. I struggle to continue speaking, so Nate continues for me.

“The next day, we were all walking to our homeroom, but Jack forgot his books, so he want back to his locker.” Nate takes a deep breath. “Jack was ambushed by Christian.” 

Mom and Dad gasp as Mom covers her mouth.

“We don’t know exactly what happened,” Mat continues, “but when we found him, he had a pocket knife stabbed into his thigh.”

Mom wraps her arms around Dad and cries into his chest.

“The only people who know what happened are Christian and Jack,” Thomas says.

“He threatened me,” I hear a voice behind me say.


	24. What Happened?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack recounts what happened to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is going up right after this. My birthday is tomorrow and there's only one chapter left, so I thought I'd put them both up on the same day.

”I thought you were asleep,” Mark said, worriedly.

”So you thought. I knew you wouldn’t talk about it until you thought I was asleep,” Jack groggily mumbled.

”What did you say about a threat?” the principal asked.

”He insulted me, calling me a weak pansy. He then proceeded to slam the back of my head against the wall. He said that once Mark found me battered and bruised, he would let his guard down and he could take his revenge.”

Standing next to Mark, I could hear his teeth grinding against one another. I rested a hand on his shoulder. He looked at me and took a deep breath. He looked back at his boyfriend.

“He then took out his pocket knife. He said that Mark might not come looking for me. That Mark might be glad that Christian took care of me the way he always wanted to.” Hearing that, Mark immediately rushed to his boyfriend; he opened his mouth to say something, but Jack cut him off. “I know you would never want that. It’s just what he said.” Jack looked back at everyone. “That’s when I heard everyone calling me. Christian said that he would have to finish it quickly. He then stabbed me in the thigh. The guys showed up right after he ran away.”

It was silent for a moment.

“How did they arrest Christian? There’s no camera back there and no cops came to interview me,” Jack asked the principal.

“Well, they didn’t need to. His fingerprints were on the weapon and there’s a hidden camera back there. That’s where a lot of bullying tends to happen, and you know how much I  _ hate _ bullying.”

“Oh, yes. Trust us, we know,” everyone said. 

Principal Davis laughed. “Well, I’ll let you guys be. I will see you soon. Buh Bye!” He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. 


	25. Prologue (Present Day)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 12 years later, life is good for our boys.

It’s been almost 12 years since that day. Mat and I are married and have adopted an adorable little boy named Oliver. Mark and Jack are married but don’t have any kids. 

The four of us keep in touch with each other along with Thomas and Felix. Felix is engaged to his fiancé Marzia and Thomas is still single.

Mark also got back in touch with Ethan and Tyler who broke up but decided to stay friends. I’m pretty sure Tyler wants to get back together, but oh well.

Oh, did I mention that we all have YouTube channels? Those are our jobs. Mark does video gaming and comedy sketches, Jack does video gaming and reaction videos here and there, Thomas has a show where he talks about real life problems with different facets of his personality, Felix used to do video gaming, but now he does reaction videos. He watches the weirdest stuff. Ethan does the same thing Mark does. He used to be Mark’s editor, too. Tyler doesn’t have his own channel, but he helps Mark and Ethan with theirs.

Oh, I almost forgot! MatPat creates theories about games and movies using real-life math and science. And me? Well, I used to do video gaming and song parodies. But now that I’m signed with a record label, I write my own songs! I guess you could say that I’m a professional singer.

I guess you might want to know our channel names, in case you want to look us up. Well…

Mark is Markiplier

Jack is Jacksepticeye. Odd name, I know.

Ethan is Crankgameplays.

Felix is Pewdiepie. He’s actually the number one YouTuber with about 87 million subscribers. He’s in a battle with another channel for number one. Let’s hope Felix wins.

Thomas is just Thomas Sanders.

MatPat is Game/Film Theory and GTLive. He has three channels.

And I’m Natewantstobattle and Natewantstobattle Games. I don’t upload on the second channel anymore, but there are still some old videos on there to enjoy. 

We’re all enjoying our lives. Jack healed well after his injury. Mark had two heart attacks and can’t have alcohol. Long story, but he’s fine. We all have a bunch of friends that help with our channels.

We’re all doing good. Life’s good. I’m a father and a husband with a well-paying job. I couldn’t ask for a better life. I can’t even ask for one without the abuse. Otherwise, I might not have met MatPat. And I can’t imagine my world without him. Sometimes I wonder how I made it through the first 17 years of my life without him. 

Oh well. Enough rambling. Mat’s calling me to dinner. I’ll be back tomorrow. Let’s see if we can fill this journal with more amazing stories.

The End

An Deireadh

끝 (Kkeut)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That is the end of this story! If you want a sequel, let me know and I might just make one. There's someone on Wattpad who wants a sequel. Anyway, just let me know. You can also give me some plot ideas if you'd like.


End file.
